Sima Guang was very frugal by nature and hated extravagance and waste. If he did not go far away, he usually did not take a carriage. Even if the weather was very hot, he would still walk home.
Slowly returned to his small house.
The old servant who had been following him since his hometown came over immediately.
"Mr. Junshi is back."
"Uh-huh?"
Sima Guang nodded and suddenly turned his head to look at the old servants, "What did you call me just now?"
The old servant said: "Your Majesty, my dear sir."
Sima Guang wondered: "Who asked you to call me that?"
The old servant said sarcastically: "Mr. Xiao Su told me that you have been promoted to deputy prime minister, but you can no longer be called a scholar."
The old servant had always respectfully called him Junshi Scholar, but he didn't know that Sima Guang had been promoted to participate in political affairs.
That’s outrageous!
Sima Guang frowned and asked, "Su Zizhan?"
The old servant nodded.
Sima Guang asked again: "When did he come?"
The old servant said: "I just came here, and now I am reading in the room."
"I'll go find him."
Sima Guang went straight to the study.
This Sima Guang, like Wang Anshi, had the same basic necessities as ordinary citizens. Even his small house was not as compliant as this. However, his salary was not low. Where to spend the money? On the one hand, he would help the refugees, and the rest would be used to collect books.
In the past, Su Shi often went to his home or Ouyang Xiu's home to borrow books.
When he came to the study, Sima Guang asked Su Shi, "Su Zizhan, why did you teach my servant bad things?"
Su Shi was stunned for a moment, but then he realized it and said with a smile: "Sima Xianggong, you are too indifferent to fame and fortune. Even the old servants at home don't know about your promotion to a political official, and you still always call yourself a scholar, if you let me
If people hear this, they will probably laugh at me."
"You are really nosy."
Sima Guang glared at Su Shi, suddenly remembered something, and asked: "You came just in time, I have a problem that is bothering me."
Su Shi asked: "What's the problem?"
Sima Guang asked: "Do you think it is easier to observe morality or to observe the law?"
Su Shi said without even thinking, "Of course it's easy to maintain morality."
Sima Guang groaned: "Not paying back the money you owe, although it is immoral, is not necessarily illegal. How can it be that it is easy to maintain morality?"
Su Shi laughed and said: "Whether it is illegal or not can be judged by laws, but whether it is virtuous or not is often difficult to judge."
Sima Guang pondered for a while and sighed: "That's what happened!"
Su Shi asked: "Why did Sima Xianggong ask this question?"
"Just ask."
Sima Guang waved his hand and changed the subject: "Are you coming to my house today to borrow some books?"
Su Shi smiled and said: "That's not true."
Sima Guang asked: "What's the matter with you?"
Su Shi smiled and said, "I'm here to recommend myself."
"Recommend yourself?"
Sima Guang was stunned and said: "Do you want to go to the trial court?"
Su Shi nodded.
Sima Guang asked: "Why?"
Su Shi said seriously: "To be honest with you, I was inspired by the previous lawsuit."
Sima Guang perked up, "Really? I'd like to hear the details."
Su Shi sighed: "In court, Wei Yushan made it very clear that everyone evades taxes. If he doesn't steal, he is a fool. Everyone does not abide by the existing laws, so it is meaningless to talk about reform."
Sima Guang nodded and said: "You are right, it seems that we are really aiming too high!"
Why we talk about morality but not law is not because Germany is superior to law, but because we seek to compromise.
According to normal logic, morality is actually a higher state, and law is the bottom line. We must first keep the bottom line before we can talk about morality.
But the reality is to erase the bottom line and only talk about morality. This is deceiving oneself and deceiving others.
The reason is that if you violate morality, you will only receive education. For example, what you did is wrong, so don’t do it next time.
There is a lot of room for maneuver here.
Violating the law will result in punishment, and the scope for maneuver is very small.
You just don’t dare to punish, so that’s why you talk about moral education.
If keeping wealth among the people is based on morality, it is actually based on seeking perfection through compromise.
In other words, you yourself know that you can't control them at all, so if your wealth is in their hands, you will never get stable results.
The road to simplicity.
In fact, the truth is very simple. You just can't do it, so you create some fancy things to cover up this fact.
If you ignore the facts, it is impossible to succeed.
Su Shi also discovered this problem. If everyone does not abide by the law, the reform will be a pure struggle for interests. We must first abide by the law before we can discuss the gains and losses of the reform.
...
After all, Zhang Fei was a layman and would not dwell too much on this issue. After Sima Guang left, he began to check the store's accounts.
One word to describe it, horrific.
It was just that I made a little money from Ma Tianhao and the others before, but I didn’t have much income after that.
However, the cost is increasing.
Just as Fan Li entered the hall, Zhang Fei asked: "Exceptor Fan, our store's income is really going from bad to worse. We can't continue like this."
Fan Li sighed: "There is nothing we can do about this."
"What are you talking about?"
Zhang Fei said angrily: "Can't they find a lawsuit? We are so famous now."
Fan Li said: "It's just because we are so famous that it's hard to take this lawsuit."
Zhang Fei asked: "How do you say this?"
Fan Li opened his mouth first, and then said: "Wait a moment."
With that said, he found a copy of the document from the archives and handed it to Zhang Fei, "Look at this lawsuit."
Zhang Fei took it and opened it and looked at it. The lawsuit was quite simple. It was an old woman who passed away in No. 1 Tianshui Lane, and there was a dispute over the real estate she left behind.
This old woman has a son who has been living in the west of the city. He is engaged in silk and satin business, but he has never taken care of his bedridden mother. A neighbor's aunt who sells cooking cakes has been taking care of this old woman. After the old woman died, she will
The house was given to this neighbor's aunt.
As a result, her son thought that the house should be passed on to him and how could he leave it to his neighbors, so he wanted to file a lawsuit, so he came to Bianjing Law Firm for help.
After Zhang Fei read it, he said: "This lawsuit is good! It can make a lot of money, aren't you sure?"
Fan Li immediately said: "It's really not true. That aunt is a kind and honest person. She can definitely win in a fight. But the fact is that this son is really nothing. He lives in the same city and his mother is ill in bed, but he never
It was not until his death that his family came to hold the funeral. It could be said to be holding a funeral, but in fact it was just occupying the house. As for the house left by the old woman, I estimated that it was worth at least a thousand yuan, but
It’s not a small amount of money.”
Zhang Fei looked at Fan Li in confusion and said, "When did you become so conscientious? I remember you were very cruel before."
Fan Li said angrily: "In the past, our profession had a bad reputation. Everyone was just trying to make money, so it didn't matter. But now... Now, Sanlang, you have made our Bianjing Law Firm's reputation so good, helping the poor.
Even if we don’t charge money for the lawsuit, if I take this lawsuit and win, won’t it ruin our reputation?”
Zhang Fei clicked his tongue: "The purpose of my reputation is to use this reputation to make money. If I can't make money, what's the use of this reputation? We just need to use legal means and don't have too much psychological burden."
Fan Li said: "If you don't care, let's take over the lawsuit. The son of that family said that as long as Sanlang you come forward to help him fight the lawsuit, he is willing to pay a hundred dollars."
"One hundred strings! Then why are you hesitating? Of course...!"
Zhang Fei suddenly scratched his head and glanced at the man, "Uh... I'll think about it first, can I win the fight?"
Fan Li said with a smile: "I can win this lawsuit. The laws of our court clearly stipulate that relatives are superior to neighbors. It is his family's ancestral home and it is to be passed down to future generations. Even the mother may not
There is so much power given to outsiders."
Zhang Fei saw that he was speaking plausibly and said, "Then you help the son, and I'll help the aunt. Let's compare."
Fan Li immediately said: "Then I can't beat you."
"Yes! It can be seen that this...this is difficult." Zhang Fei said.
Fan Li nodded: "Yes, Sanlang is right, it's quite difficult. You think about it slowly, I'll get started first."
"go Go!"
After Fan Li left, Zhang Fei looked at the article and was really confused. He scratched his cheeks and head and said frantically: "Zhang Fei, Zhang Fei, what on earth are you struggling with? You are a lawyer. What the hell are you doing?"
I'm not a grand thief. I opened a store just to make money, not to hoe the strong and help the weak. Do you even need to consider this? I have to take it! This lawsuit is a sure win, am I out of my mind?"
At this moment, someone suddenly heard someone say: "Why are you cooing here alone?"
Zhang Fei looked up and saw Xu Zhiqian walking in. He blinked and said truthfully: "I am studying a lawsuit."
"What lawsuit?"
Xu Zhiqian came over immediately.
Zhang Fei handed the article to Xu Zhiqian.
After Xu Zhiqian finished reading, she suddenly looked at Zhang Fei, "You don't want to pick it up, do you?"
Zhang Fei said: "This is not a question of whether we think about it or not. When we open the door to do business, if people ask for help, we have to accept it!"
Xu Zhiqian said excitedly: "This son is simply heartless and hopeless. He lives in a big house in the west of the city, and his mother is ill in bed. Not to mention taking care of her, she has never visited her. But now she is slandering him just for money.
That kind-hearted aunt deceived his mother with sweet words and plotted against his ancestral home. This is simply abominable. If you help him, wouldn't you be helping the evil tyrant."
Zhang Fei retorted: "When a bad guy goes to a blacksmith's shop to buy a knife, won't the blacksmith sell it to him?"
Xu Zhiqian said: "If you didn't know he was a bad guy, that would be excusable. If you knew and you still sold him the knife, you would be an accessory."
"You... OK, Xing Xing, you always have a point anyway. If you have money, you won't let me earn it. Why don't you become a Bodhisattva or an ear pen? It's really unreasonable. I peed. I'm so angry."
Zhang Fei stood up and walked away angrily.
"You really won't change your mind!"
Xu Zhiqian glared at him fiercely.
As soon as Zhang Fei left, Fan Li walked in with a smile.
Xu Zhiqian turned around and glared: "Why are you laughing?"
Fan Li smiled and said: "Ms. Xu, you have really misunderstood Saburo. We can win this lawsuit. If he wants to take it, he quietly lets us fight it, and you don't know."
Xu Zhiqian was stunned for a moment, "You mean he deliberately made me angry?"
Fan Li hurriedly shook his head and said: "No, I think he just wants you to stop him, so that he can use the slope to get off the donkey."
Xu Zhiqian said: "It's right not to answer, why do you want me to stop him?"
Fan Lidao: "After all, we open a store to make money!"
Xu Zhiqian said: "As long as this money is enough, you can't use it even if you earn so much."
Fan Li kept laughing and couldn't say anything.
Xu Zhiqian rolled her eyes and said: "Exceptor Fan, please send someone to find that aunt. Let's help her get the house back. We have to teach that unfilial son a lesson. This is really unreasonable."
I knew it was like this. Fan Li asked in a low voice: "How much does it cost?"
Xu Zhiqian blinked: "Is it okay if I don't accept it?"
Fan Li said sarcastically: "We are just opening the door to do business, you..."
Xu Zhiqian thought for a while and said: "Then...then let's take 500 yuan...I think the old lady is not coveting the house, so she takes care of the old woman, so let's not take her."